Further investigation reveals that there are no aspects of human life that a thorough reading of the Koran and Hadiths will not make one an expert in and indeed the final arbiter on.

The Islamic Centre of Clarington web site contains links to a number of useful life style resources, one of them being Hijab – A Beautiful Liberation.

Given the Orwellian nature of the title, the document contains few surprises and is basically a screed against post enlightenment individual rights and self autonomy and a thinly veiled attempt to disguise the core of misogyny inherent in Islam with Orwellian Newspeak type arguments of the form “Subjugation is Liberation”, “Enslavement is Freedom”, “Shame is Pride” and so on.

It starts off with the usual Koranic exhortation:

“that they should draw their veils over their bosoms and not display their beauty except to their husbands, their father, their husband’s fathers, their sons, their husband’s sons, their brothers or their brothers’ sons, or their sisters’ sons, or their women, or the slaves whom their right hands possess, or male servants free of physical needs, or small children who have no sense of the shame of sex;” 24:30-31

Which if nothing else is a whirlwind tour of the tribal origins of Islam, encompassing polygamy, slavery and the castration of male chattels with a dollop of sexual shame thrown in for good measure.

From that turgid prose it jumps directly to it’s conclusion, bypassing evidence based reasoning and rational thought:

“Thus it is harám, forbidden for women to wear transparent or tight-fitting clothes which reveal the body’s shape. Likewise any form of make up or adornment, including perfume and excessive jewellery which attract attention to the female are scorned upon.”

Apparently there is a continuum of Feminism, ranging from:

“Practising feminists … (who) try desperately to un-shackle themselves from the degradation they face in a lust-ridden society, by wearing baggy clothes”

to those feminists who are but part of the:

“usual anti-male cliché”.

Western women desperately seek to break free of the shackles of consumerism gone wild and your friend Islam is waiting for you with a holy book in one hand and a dress code in the other:

“They loathe the high-heeled, mini skirt bombshell types, as they are slaves to the men that use and abuse them. But the dress code the feminist see as route to liberation – is it not uncannily similar to the Islamic code described before? In fact it is closer to Hijab than any of them would care to admit.”

Say what you will about Islam, it certainly is not burdened with any form of self aware irony.

In conclusion, the author, Dr. M. Naseem (a male I presume) says:

“All Muslim men and women have a duty to conform to the dress code of Islam. In particular, those who wear Hijab should be a role model to present an example of Islamic nobility and good manners.”

But he seems short on practical advice as to what men should wear and I suspect that males wearing the Hajib in ISIS occupied countries would be in imminent danger of a short trip from the top of a tall building.

progressive is not a word I would use to describe Islam or any religion.

Progression religion is an oxymoron

“What makes this policing of women’s bodies worse . . .”

There is no bad, worse, worst. Nothing can make policing of women’s bodies any worse than it it already is. What part of don’t force or encourage women to sit in segregated areas, don’t force or encourage women to cover their faces and don’t blame Allah, Jesus or Paul of Tarsus for your misogyny don’t people understand.

Considering how many political ‘progressives’ these days seem to be arguing against free speech and for ‘safe space’ segregation of women/minorities, because patriarchy… I find the word sadly ironic in this context. Puritanism seems to be what all the cool kids, secular and otherwise, are doing.